FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Isbel
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
djaznh
The first episode seemed endless, but never fear, because the rest of the series is a swan dive into eternal pithy script and horrible acting by most of the other players. Jean Reno is the only French accent in Paris these days, it seems. Granted, Reno could have stayed home and phoned his part in for all the color the rest of the cast contribute. Overall, a disappointing effort. Even Jean Reno can only do so much.
HelenMary
I was looking forward to some gritty French drama series, starring the incredibly talented Jean Reno. I understand that the series has to appeal internationally (and by that I mean Americans), but it's totally NOT French. Jean Reno is wasted and the plot is interesting in terms of story lines but the police-procedure is so contrived, and whilst it's not entirely predictable, it's full of leaps in investigation.Reno plays it French but everyone else is either American or British and I don't get that. He's investigating random murders (being a homicide cop) but everyone is English! Everyone! Even if they spoke with cheesy French accents it would have made more sense. The producers missed a trick by making it too much like all the other investigative procedurals that are on US and UK TV at present - if the only thing different is that it's set against Parisian architecture, that's not a good enough reason to watch. The script is too staccato because the action is stilted due to the contrived leaps, and even Reno can't raise this show to above 5/10 for me. Tom Austen the sidekick is good, pretty and the flirty cop who gets all the ladies to open up with information - well cast - but I would like to see some reason why he's working in Paris and hear him attempting to speak French occasionally.Only Reno's character St-Clair has a back-story, which makes the program too shallow. St-Clair's struggle with drink and drugs is only touched on, but perhaps it's early days in the series... there's not much story arc. It needs to be more French. I'd love it then. Subtitles aren't such a bad thing!
Teresa Williams
Luckily I had recorded 3 episodes of this before watching because I'm not sure I would have bothered watching any further episodes after the 1st one. There seems to be a tendency for new crime series to follow the Scandinavian style in series such as Borgen and I don't have a problem with this especially in Jo. As with all good detectives the main character is flawed, they wouldn't be so good at their job if they weren't I guess. The cast is great particularly Jean Reno and Tom Austen, the Morse and Lewis of Paris. So why have I only given it 7 stars? Well, it's a slow-burner for a start. I've just seen episode 3 and am enjoying it more as the series progresses. However, I'm not invested in any of the main characters. Jo himself has a troubled past and a tumultuous relationship with his daughter who also has problems, but so far I don't really care. Secondly, this is a series set in France with mainly British actors, good British actors, and yet, they are all adopting American accents. I don't know why unless this is because the producers didn't think an American audience would understand the British accent. Ironically, of course, Jean Reno speaks with a thick French accent and he doesn't compromise that here. If there is to be another series please, please drop the fake American accents because it is needless and annoying and might be the thing that will make me and other, switch off.
David Wilkins
We were excited to see Jean Remo cast for this role as we are fans of many of his other works but were sadly disappointed when we sat down to watch. The story was good and the acting carried it but the American accents clashed terribly with the Parisian setting. A major production error considering the lengths they had gone to in their choice of locations and sets. The flawed detective is a staple of the crime/detective genre but the unique element here was lost as Paris dissolved into another another tepid formulaic drama with a plot that lumped between scenes with limited development.Sadly we won't be watching next week.
